Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » The day the sun stood still (closed)

This is the second week the sun still hung high in the sky, its constant rays beating down on the world bellow. The last thing our heroes seem to remember is being out on the road when suddenly darkness struck them. Bittersweet darkness, to be sure, for it was brought after being assaulted by a gang of what seemed to be soldiers and peasants wielding clubs. Whether they took these people by surprise or whether they valiantly tried to fight their foes off, it didn't matter. In the end they'd wake up with a bag over their head.

Alfie woke up after the gang had placed them on the ground. Muffled voices sounded in the distance and the Halfling felt as confused as ever. He tried to move his limbs, but he simply couldn't. His head started throbbing painfully as he tried to recall what happened. The poor guy was caught off guard when he got hit over the head with a club. Desperately Alfie tried to stay calm. He was a sorcerer. Surely he could get himself out of this one!

In the distance the Halfling could hear muffled voices, slowly getting clearer as they neared him and the others."...I'm telling you, Joana. This will work. The almighty Sun is simply working overtime to keep the evil away. If we assure them we can handle it, She will disappear once more." A male voice spoke."Now be a jolly good dame and help me uncover our captives."

Soon everyone's hood would be removed, and for the first time they would be able to see darkness. They were in a cave by the looks of it. Deep inside one, for there was no light to be seen other than those of torches on the rocky wall on the other side of the room. Next to Alfie he could see the other unfortunates who got themselves captured. It was little relief that he wasn't the only one.

A male and female were in the room. The male was an older gentleman wearing platemail. His hair was slowly turning grey and he had a twirly moustache while his accomplice was a younger, dark skinned, woman with long black braided hair. She had a criminal look about her as many scars covered her face. The male spoke again."Hello, friends!" He said with a wide smile."Who's ready to praise the sun?"

Unlike others, Zirquoise woke up quite late, her head was throbbing from hurt after someone had, quite nicely, to add, hit her head with a paddle as she was walking in a forest.
She couldn't see at all, the result of a blindfold being placed over her eyes "why would they need to put that over her head though?" She'd thought to her self.

As soon as something that was placed on her head was removed, she hissed, she could smell that she was in a cave. She hated caves, they reminded her of what she lost when she'd been taken.

As soon as a man started speaking, her body went a bit stiff before relaxing yet again.
"Meeee" she said, or rather, spit.

Darkness was always welcome, considering the last few weeks. Though not quite in the manner Maelie was expecting, nor exactly wanting. She could certainly slap herself for not having been more aware of her surroundings. As consciousness roused her from her little 'nap' Maelie, looked around and realized she had a hood over her face. With the hood on... it actually looked quite silly because her horn had ripped through the hood just so the cultists could cover her face.

Slowly as she awoke, she blinked and slowly realized her situation. Aw damn. Swears erupted from under her breath as she rolled around a bit and struggled, quickly realizing that she was bound. As the male voice spoke, her ears flicked in the direction they were coming from, trying to listen. First impressions of the man... crazy. She heard the sound of rustling cloth and she could feel others around her. When her hood came off, the first obvious thing (other then her horn) was the giant mess of curls she had. Practically snarling, the woman struggled with sparks of her electricity snapping between her teeth and fingers out of anger.

Maelie's ears flicked backward in a hostile manner. She was not ready to praise the sun with some crazy cultist who has horrible fashion sense, thank you very much. "I don't exactly remember becoming friends with that lovely face." she said jabbing with bitter sarcasm towards the man. She glanced around at the others around her curious as to who else ended up here. Well... company was always better then being alone she supposed.

The conversation in the cave brought Kvothe back to a conscious state. The cloth of the bag prickled his face uncomfortably and he managed to sit up on the floor without toppling back over, though his limbs were restricted from movement. His head was killing him. Why? He was too groggy to remember at the time, but it didn't matter particularly much anyway. Once his mind started to process the situation he realized he was bound with a bag over his head blocking his view, and that only meant trouble.

It didn't take long for the bag to be removed. He was an average guy, with a big nose and chin length wavy black hair that now looked terribly unkempt. His brown eyes looked pitch black from the dilation of his pupils, fueled by the adrenaline rush in his system. The white linen shirt on his torso was dirty and bloodied from the sustained wounds during his capture, and his slacks were torn at the knees. All in all he wasn't all that remarkable looking, but he was rather calm given the circumstances, even if his body remained tense in anticipation.

Kvothe briefly glanced over to the others and chose to remain silent, looking back to study their captors. Were they insane?

Whoever unbagged Prabu's head is met with a face that would make most people consider just covering it back up again. The two yellow eyes and their death glare are by far the worst part of the experience. Even though being knocked out mid-fight and captured is not the most pleasant thing in the world, the red-skinned humanoid's stony expression betrays nothing but deep, seething resentment.

Prabu takes a moment to take in his surroundings, especially the people standing around him. He needs to know what to expect, both from his captors and his fellow captives.

Silvia groaned and shook her head once the sack had been removed. Her hair, normally somewhat tamed in two long braids, had frizzed from the cloth rubbing against her head. It poofed out around her, covering most of her face and eyes.

Serve the sun? What was he talking about? The young woman lifted her head ever so slightly, trying to get a good look at those around her. Pain shot through those eyes, causing another groan and a bout of nausea. "Who hits a waitress over the head with her own fryng pan?" She complained once it had been decided that she would not, in fact, throw up. She tried to move, finding that her only success was feeling a strong tug against her hair. Normally she loved her braids, having never cut her hair they were Silvia's pride and joy. Now though, she was more annoyed that her captors seemed to have deemed them too dangerous to roam free - her hair had been tied up with her. This....sucked.

The older man laughed right in Maelie's face as he took an apple from his pocket and took a bite out of it with his big, crooked teeth."We're all friends here, y'know." He said through his chewing."We're about to save the world, you 'n I. But you don't know that yet because of your tied-down predicament." The chuckled as he pushed half an apple through the girl's horn, making sure the juices would flow down her hair.

As this was going on, Alfie knew he had to act. His hands started burning, but immediately this backfired. A shock spiked through his hand and the Halfling yelped out. The woman reacted to this."I wouldn't do that if I were you. These are dimeritium bonds. Magic will do you no good. Better to just accept it ahead of time."

"Yes! Yes! Accept it. Let me tell you what will happen." The older gentleman continued."This world is filled with wicked people, and our lovely Sun out there is trying to shine a light upon them. So we must appease our Sun. We must appease it by shedding a light in the places She cannot reach."

"The only way to stop this violence, is with more violence! You six are going to burn on the stake!" The old man said with a wide, crooked smile on his face."And with your death! The world will be saved!"

The woman, Joana, patted the man's shoulder."Alright, enough, you're scaring them." The man laughed."Why would they be scared? This is a great privilege! Come on, you lot! Cheer for me!" The woman shook her head as he dragged the man by his arm away."Oh, right, right. Enjoy your time among the living while you can. We have some wood to gather for the cookery."

At the sound of getting burned alive, Alfie started to panic. He was powerless! What was he to do?"O-Oh Gods, no... I'm too young to die! We have to do something! Please! Someone! Does anyone have a plan? Please, for the love of the Gods, have a plan!"

Kvothe startled at the halfling's yelp and realized that their bounds weren't an amateur's work. His eyes widened in shock when their captors' plans were laid out. They couldn't be serious! They were mad people, why would their sacrifices restore the natural balance of day and night? He breathed in deeply, recalling his experiences as a former mercenary to keep him from succumbing to terror. Kvothe turned towards Alfie first.

"Stay calm. Panic won't get us anywhere." He had a deep voice that sounded strong even when he spoke softly. He looked at the others. "Does anyone have experience with dimeritium?"

As this man laughed at her, Maelie practically boiled in rage, the angry woman snarling when he pushed the apple onto her horn. Disgusting. "I'm going to rip your throat out and feed it to you." As Alfie had yelped out in pain, Maelie flicked her gaze over towards him, a moment of concern on her face. Though as the woman began explaining the bonds, Maelie looked to her own. Great. She couldn't electrocute that sod who dared stick things on her horn and humiliate her.

Looking back to the cultist as he rambled, Maelie just stared at him. Yes, because violence was the best option. A+ option. "Nope. I've got nothing unless you want me to hit things with my horn... and I've got an apple on my horn so." Maelie grumbled a bit, peeking in the direction of the others curious to see if anyone else would have an idea?

Prabu remains for the most part motionless, silent, watching the two leave. As they do, he looks them over for keys, weapons or tools they might be carrying. As he does this, his clawed hands move about in their bounds, feeling for their shape and make, testing their sturdiness. It feels like metal. That's trouble. He grimaces in his frustration, and proceeds to scan the area they find themselves in.

As soon as the man had seemed to quite gravely insult someone, the you Jumi had somehow lost interest completely, instead doing her best to try and remove the blindfold that was whether forgotten or not, still blocked her eyesight.
"Dime-what?" She asked after hearing someone say it out loud. The girl was rather relaxed for someone who got caught, not even caring about dying, loosing your first life isn't really of any I portance.

"does anyone know how to remove my blindfold? I'm kind of tied up at the moment." She asked as politely, hastily adding "please" at the end of her sentence, fearing that she might sound a bit bossy (which she is) to anyone who could help her.

"If you're tied up, what makes you think any of us who might help wouldn't be tied up aswell?" Silvia snapped at the blindfolded girl. She was afraid of these people who had kidnapped them, afraid of the sun too. When she was afraid, the woman tended to react with anger rather than anything else.

"Hey, if you're going to burn us at the steak isn't that a useless use of fire? You could damage what little forest growth we still have. If it's really a sun sacrifice, just leave us out in it!" Her tone was thick, condescending, and taunting. They seemed to be walking away, so her voice was almost a yell. Then, once her little outburst was over, she made an attempt to look down at her bonds. Just how much of her was tied up, could she stand? Silvia put pressure against the bonds, trying to shift her shoulders and arms outward. It might go against magic, but did the bonding shift at all when she tried to move it? Maybe if she got slippery enough she could get out.

"You could bite my blindfold off." She muttered under her breath, a bit annoyed at how someone had indirectly called her ignorant, she'd forget about it a few seconds later anyway, so she decided to not dwell on it. Although with the present situation, a small smile was still plastered onto her face, she had never been in such an exciting position since- well, when she escaped the grip of royalty.

After a bit of random thinking that definitely had no connection to her, and other victims of what seemed to be an overly idiotic cult trying to sacrifice innocent living beings for their superstitious beliefs, somehow she'd decided to just lay down on the floor and rollover to a rock, or anything that might be able to remove the bonds, or maybe even her blindfold.

Something about the way Kvothe spoke managed to calm the fearful Halfling down."I... I have heard of it. It is some type of metal that reacts badly to magic, as if its protecting itself against it." He said as he tried to pull his hands apart from one another."But it looks to have the same properties of iron. I don't think teeth or horns will work..." The Halfling spoke in a defeated manner.

It didn't look good for the group. Prabu would notice the two people who just left to have an array of knives with them, but more importantly they also carried the keys. Now they were alone in this room. Seemingly no one relieved them of guard duty. At least this gave the captured folks a chance.

After a bit of silence, Alfie spoke again, looking at the torch on the other side of the room. Everyone had their hands tied behind their backs and their legs bound, but they weren't stuck to anything! They could still move around with some difficulty.

"What if... Could we burn these chains off?" He asked, nudging towards one of the torches that burned brightly on the other side of the room."I-I mean. It'll be very painful, but... What other option do we have?" He seemed to be speaking mainly to Kvothe. Out of all the people here staying quiet, having fruit sticking out of their strange appendages or fighting about unnecessary blindfolds, he seemed to be the most level headed of the bunch.

He did hear the others bickering out of anger and fear, but focused on Alfie and his suggestion to find a way out. He didn't blame anyone for being terrified though. His training just gave him an edge, otherwise he would be freaking out too and unable to think this through. He glanced from the Halfling to the torches and raised his brows in approval. "Better alive and burnt than dead, I suppose." He wasn't looking forward to it, but if it meant freedom he wasn't opposed to trying.

"Perhaps we can focus on the bindings on our feet first." He was addressing all of them now by turning his body to face the others, trying to maintain his composure. "We can still get out if our hands are tied, but not if we can't run. Is anyone wearing leather footwear? It will retard the flames and burn less quickly, if we can reach our feet that high." Unable to estimate the torches' height placement on the wall he wasn't sure if it was even possible to attempt, but he remained hopeful.

Only the sweat beading on his forehead betrayed how stressed he was.

" I'm wearing foot wear of that material, if that helps." Zirquoise said, following the voice of the man and trying best to roll her way over to him, she gave up half way though, and just decided to ask him from afar.
With an unnecessary blindfold blocking her very beloved view, she had started to become quite.... Restless. Wanting to remove her bonds just so she would be able to remove the blindfold, and at least be able to see where they were, maybe remember the place as they go.
The longer she stayed with the bonds on her, the more she became desperate to remove them, bonds gave her bad memories of a dark time in her life, and blocking her view only made the memory even clearer, with nothing for her to look at, all of her attention was subconsciously focusing on a memory she wanted to forget.

Even though she had just become calm a few seconds earlier, her mind was already fogged. And she would love to do anything just to get out of this position. She was desperate now,

Maelie through her slight mumblings and swears out of frustration and fear, soon fell silent as she heard Kvothe speak. The woman remember she had her leather boots on to keep her feet from getting sunburn. Looking to the torch on the wall, it looked a little high up but maybe that was because she was on the ground, she wasn't sure. "I fear if we are working on our feet bindings first, it would be rather difficult to get out feet up that high. Perhaps we can knock it down first." Maelie spoke up with her suggestion. She was still angry clearly but she had to try and focus. Even if she wanted to scream in rage.

Having considered the situation, the red-skinned creature finally takes the time to pay attention to his fellow captives and their solutions. Then, without further ado, he crawls through the ground like a caterpillar, resting his back against the wall by the nearest torch. With some hassle, he uses said wall as support to get up on his feet, his considerable height hopefully allowing him to reach the torch and use his sharp teeth to try and hold on to it.

Someone had made it to a tourch, and their method of doing so didn't look half bad. Silvia tilted her head backwards, looking at the torch nearest to her. "If only one of us manages it, that doesn't help all of us..." She mused, and attempted the worm crawl herself. But, instead of crawling towards a torch, she slowly maneuvered to the blindfolded woman. It hurt, each shift causing strong tuggs against the hairs on her scalp, but after a few moments she managed. "Well...stay still." It was awkward, moving her face hesitantly around the back of her girl's head, feeling around with her nose until...there! The knot. Then, having found a bit of fabric large enough to bite at, Silvia pinched it with her teeth and tugged upwards.

It moved. An inch.

Silvia growled in frustration and gave one...two....three more tugs before the blindfold came free. The force propelled Silvia back onto her butt, but the other girl would be able to see now.

Yes! The group seemed to make some headway at last! The blindfolded girl could see again and the Hobgoblin managed to grab a hold of the torch. Things were going well so far, and the Halfling felt happy for it.

That was until the old man returned with a large group of bandits. He started to grin widely."Oh, look at the poor children. We leave them alone for five minutes and they're already plotting their escape." He laughed. The others chuckled along with him, except for one of the more heavy set looking guards."Are you surprised, Priest? We go through all this trouble of binding them in Dimeritium and we leave them alone like a bunch of amateurs. Of course they're going to take their chance. I would too in their position." He said in a rough voice.

The old man waved him off."Yeah, yeah. Enough talk, lad. Grab them. By the time we get to the chamber the pyres will be set up and we can end this crap."

Alfie started to cry. Wail even. They were making such good headway, and now it would seem they were going to die anyway! The little Halfling tried to crawl away."No! Noo! Don't touch me! Get away from me!" He wailed as he tried to scurry off, but the bandit heading towards him quickly beat him over his head, making him faint."Anyone else make noise 'n they get the same bashin'!" He yelled at the prisoners before picking up Alfie like a sack of grain. The others too would get escorted by a pair of these cultists.

They were lead through a maze of hallways, all lit by torches. From the look of the many boxes and tools, it would seem these bandits were very active and managed to get a good haul of stuff. But that would probably not be on these unfortunate people's minds.

Soon they were brought to a large, well lit chamber. A lot of cultists gathered in a circle around six pyres, also forming a circle. There was no altar, no markings, just the pyres and the cultists. They didn't even dress up in some strange garbs. Yet despite all that, people could feel a sense of divine magic in this room.

They were quickly tied up to their respective poles. Beginning with Maelie, the first to be tied up, being followed by Prabu, Alfie, Silvia, Zirquoise and finally Kvothe. At this point Alfie awoke once more, still rather dazed and unaware of his surroundings. Hopefully he stayed this way during his burning. At least someone would go this day with minimal pain.

The crazed priest didn't wait a second to start his plea as some of the cultists started lighting their torches.

At this point a thin layer of black mist started seeping from walls.